Improvement of agitation and anxiety in dementia sufferers after psychoeducative training of their caregivers

It has been convincingly demonstrated that in dementia psychoeducative trai ning of caregivers positively impacts on motivation for care and satisfacti on of the cargivers. It has, however, been neglected to examine the effect of psychoeducative training on the behavioural and psychological symptoms o f dementia sufferers. In a three-month, expert-based and conceptualized gro up intervention with caregiving relatives of demented patients we investiga ted, whether functional impairment and behavioural and psychological sympto ms may improve, which of a set of independent variables may predict improve ment, and how the group intervention will be appreciated by the caregivers. The group intervention yielded a significant improvement of memory-related functions in daily living and a significant decrease of agitation and anxi ety of the demented patients. The presence of an additional somatic disease predicted worse outcome of the intervention with respect to the impairment of memory-related functions in daily living and of agitation. Anonymous in quiry of the caregivers with respect to their judgement of the intervention revealed high acceptance and appreciation. This study demonstrated that a psychoeducative group intervention with caregiving relatives of dementia su fferers is helpful for both the caregivers and the demented patient. This e vidence of a positive mediate effect of the group intervention on the funct ional and behavioural impairment of the demented patients underscores the i mportance of nonpharmacological strategies in the treatment plan of dementi a.